Beave

As I've thought more about the magic in the recent chapters, and particularly with Flora's wall of fire stopping Grunbeld, etc. it occured to me that in many ways it seems that Miura is setting up Elemental/Nature magic as the one force that is strong enough to oppose the power of the Beherits-- the God Hand, Griffith, and the Apostles.

Many times, on this board and others, I've watched people speculate about how the hell Guts is ever going to beat Griffith, as he is so obviously outclassed-- I mean, hey, if Skullnight can't seem to beat Void, how is Guts going to beat Griffith, you know?

I'd like to say it'll be pure willpower on Guts part, as that is what's always attracted me to his character, but I also wonder whether he's going to need the help of this Nature magic in some way. Why else introduce the new little witch? And all the new weapons? And Flora's wall of flame? Or the power of the carving that Flora put on the Berserker armor .... and that she is even able to weaken the pull of the Brand?

It also occured to me to think-- Why would the apostles go through all the trouble of actively going out and attacking Flora's stronghold? That always seemed odd to me, and was never fully explained (I think). I mean, if she wasn't very powerful, they simply would have left her alone-- they seem to have lots of other things to do. It seems to me that she was obviously some sort of real threat to Griffith and his plans-- I mean, hey, they sent along Grunbeld and Zodd, two very powerful apostles. If this is the case, then it points to this time with Flora as being a very central turning point to the rest of the plot-- in terms of giving normal people the tools to actually fight with Apostles and Demons (like Serpico and Isidro, as an example).

All these things seem to point to Miura heading in that direction-- that he is using the power of Nature/the Elements as that thing which is able to stand up to the power of the Beherit, as the one thing which predates even the Beherit's ancient power. I don't mean it as "Nature will rule all" or something, but simply that it is another power that others may wield/work with, just as the Apostles use the Beherit.

I also find it interesting that the Apostles basically are able to get the power they have simply through willpower-- taking what they want, sacrficing others, etc. ...whereas the Nature stuff (i.e. Serpico's sword) can only really gain power when you merge with the force you are using, when you give to it a bit. Now, I know Guts doesn't pick a weapon, but he does use the armor, and the carving Flora puts on the armor and on his brand too, so I think that the importance of the "Nature/Elemental" power even applies to him too...

Mostly, it seems like Miura is setting up a dichotomy of sorts-- presenting an apposing force to the Apostles power that is actually strong enough to stand up to them, and yet that also functions on a different spiritual/ethical level as well.